experimental

From experiment +‎ -al.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɪkspɛɹəˈmɛntəl/, /ɪkˌspɛɹəˈmɛntəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl

experimental (comparative more experimental, superlative most experimental)

1. Pertaining to or founded on experiment.

   Chemistry is an experimental science.

2. (sciences) Serving to be experimented upon; used in an experiment.
   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society, published 2016, page 541:

     Brown-Séquard, noting that Addison's disease involved the failure of the adrenal (or suprarenal) glands near the kidneys, removed them in experimental animals, and thus proved they were necessary for life […].

3. Serving as an experiment; serving to experiment.

   his experimental band

   an experimental engine

   • 1954 November, Frank Hewitt, “The First Decade of British 4-6-0 Locomotives—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 747:

     In its sixty-year history here, some 4,170 engines of the 4-6-0 type have been constructed. This is the vast sequel of that bold experimental step of the Highland Railway in 1894.

   • 2012 March-April, Colin Allen, “Do I See What You See?”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 26 April 2012, page 168:

     Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.

4. Experiential, empirical.

   experimental knowledge

experimental (plural experimentals)

1. The subject of an experiment.

• control

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əks.pə.ɾi.mənˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [eks.pe.ɾi.menˈtal]

experimental m or f (masculine and feminine plural experimentals)

1. experimental

• experimentalisme
• experimentalista
• experimentalment

• experiment
• experimentar

• “experimental”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “experimental”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “experimental” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “experimental” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

experimental (feminine experimentale, masculine plural experimentaux, feminine plural experimentales)

1. obsolete spelling of expérimental

experimental m or f (plural experimentais)

1. experimental

• experimento

• “experimental”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

experimental (not comparable)

1. experimental

• experimento

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: ex‧pe‧ri‧men‧tal

experimental m or f (plural experimentais)

1. experimental (of, pertaining to or being an experiment)

• “experimental”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from French expérimental, from Latin experimentalis. By surface analysis, experiment +‎ -al.

experimental m or n (feminine singular experimentală, masculine plural experimentali, feminine and neuter plural experimentale)

1. experiential

• IPA^(key): /eɡspeɾimenˈtal/ [eɣ̞s.pe.ɾi.mẽn̪ˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ex‧pe‧ri‧men‧tal

experimental m or f (masculine and feminine plural experimentales)

1. experimental

• “experimental”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024